What are some significant policy options that could tackle the issues of disappearing farmland, and farmland too expensive for farming? As we head into the development of the Regional Food Strategy to guide the CRD and its member municipalities over the next five years CR-FAIR has been working with farmers, policy makers, researchers and other experts to look at some significant policy proposals to do just that.

The first section of this paper defines the nature and purpose of Farmland Conservation and Access Programs. The middle two sections describe the current situation in the CRD with respect to farmland conservation, and identify why the region needs a Farmland Conservation and Access Program. The two final sections of the paper look at how such a program could be funded and recommends ‘Next Steps’ for the CRD to move towards the establishment of a Farmland Conservation and Access Program.